The motto of this year’s Halloween Haunt at Knott’s Berry Farm could be said to be: Less is more.

The park cut down the number of mazes by one this year, which maze designers said helped them focused on making the remaining scarier and more engrossing. The park is also bringing back a staple of years past – Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, who is set to entertain with horror spoofs and paranormal improvisation.

“We raised the bar with detail this year,” said Brooke Walters, design supervisor. “At no point will people not be thoroughly immersed.”

Five of the 12 mazes are brand new. Some are standard haunted mazes: Dominion of the Damned, where guests will be terrorized by a vampire queen; Forevermore, which follows a murderer who copies Edgar Allen Poe’s stories; and Black Magic, where a séance conjures the ghost of Houdini.

Two of the new mazes aim for more innovation. The Gunslinger’s Grave, which follows an Old West gunslinger out for vengeance after a corrupt mayor has his family killed, is Knott’s first maze that will have indoor and outdoor sets. Walters promised the outdoor part will be just as spooky as what’s inside.

“You’re so immersed that last thing you’ll look at is the rollercoasters,” she said.

Then there’s Mirror, Mirror, the first maze at Knott’s where guests can actually get lost. In fact, the only way out is for employees to let guests out. How long people will be stuck inside will depend on how long the line is and the whims of the employees, Walters said. As an example, Walters said she was once stuck in a mirror maze in London for 30 minutes.

“I kept thinking there’s gotta, there’s gotta, there has to be,” she said, fanatically pacing to mimic how she tried to find a way out. “It was nerve racking.”

The returning mazes have also been tinkered with in hopes of improving them, Walters said. For example, Trick or Treat, which made its debut last year, has stayed up the whole year so designers could make adjustments.

Kurt Raymond, who’s returning to Haunt for the third year and will play the Green Witch in Trick or Treat, said he’s looking forward to scaring guests with what he calls a simmer scare.

“You start slowly to get eye contact with them,” he said. “You draw them into your eyes, so they’re listening to you like you’re grandma. Then they’ll trust enough and you can just go, ‘Ah!’”

Like last year, there will be some more interactive and extreme scares for some extra money. Trapped is returning as Trapped: The New Experiment. The idea is the same – solve puzzles to move from room to room – but new nightmares and phobias will be exploited. Entrance to Trapped for up to six people costs $60 on top of the admission price to Knott’s.

Also new are the Skeleton Key rooms. For $65 plus admission, or $98 for both online, guests will be able to skip the line for all the mazes and get access to an extra room in five of them: Black Magic, The Gunslinger’s Grave, Endgames, Dominion of the Dammed and Uncle Willy’s Slaughter House.

The only Skeleton Key room the park will reveal details about is Black Magic. There, guests will be part of the séance summoning Houdini, which will of course go horribly awry.

“It’s not just scares for scares sake. It goes deeper into the back story,” said Jason Soyster, communications manager.

More light-hearted séances will take place at Elvira’s new show, Elvira’s Sinema Séance. It’s her first show at Halloween Haunt in 12 years. She will pull audience members up on stage to put her comedic flair on the supernatural, such as mind-reading, séances and palm reading.

Elvira has also filmed clips spoofing horror movies. And she’ll perform spoofs of popular songs. For example, Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” will become “Get Spooky.”

“I’m totally excited to be back,” said Cassandra Peterson, the woman behind Elvira. “The fans are over the moon. They’ve been asking for this for 12 years.”

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